Anger keeps leaders

from growing.  Anger robs us of our leadership potential.  Andy Stanley has a great leadership Podcast series on "Enemies of the Heart."  He states that leaders who have internal problems eventually are held back because internal problems eventually express themselves externally.  He states the condition of our heart becomes an invisible lid to our leadership (John Maxwell's Law of the Lid).

In his podcast on anger, he states anger states "you owe me."  Anger causes us to expect pay back.  He states angry leaders fix blame on individuals rather than systems.  However, nine times out of ten a system is to blame.   Being angry puts us in "pay back mode."  Anger causes us to believe that "you took something from me." 

He states angry people have very little emotional margin and that they tend to blame people.   The way to get over anger is to release others from their debt to you.  I must decide, "you don't owe me anymore."  This does not mean they weren't wrong or that they didn't owe me.  It just means I am deciding to forgive them of the debt they owe.

Forgiveness breaks the power of anger.  Andy states, "We don't like to lose" and when we decide others don't owe us anymore, we feel we are giving something up.  Anger gives us a sense of power over others.  When we decide they don't owe us, we feel as though we are giving up power over them.   We do not like to lose and we don't like to give up power.  When we decide we are going to forgive others, we feel like we have lost.  However, in reality it is a big win as forgiveness creates emotional margin.   Thanks Andy Stanley for these thoughts!

"Life begins where your comfort zone

ends!"  My cousin just shared this statement with me on facebook and I believe it to be true.  I remember our campus minister in college sharing that we needed to be uncomfortable with our comfortableness.

I know as a physical therapist, the only way to build a muscle up is to make it do what it is not comfortable doing.  So, plow ahead!  Go against the flow!  We only live once.

The Consistency Muscle

"The signature of mediocrity, is chronic inconsistency."  Jim Collins made this comment at the recent Catalyst convention in Atlanta, Georgia.  Consistency can be difficult, but it is more difficult if we haven't worked at being consistent on a consistent basis.  In other words, I think there is a consistency muscle.  The more we work at being consistent, the more easy it is to be consistent.  As we grow, consistency in tougher situations is much more likely.

Pin your ears back

and go.  I remember my high school football coach telling me that during pre-game warm ups.  The idea was that you just go for it.  Don't hold back.  Don't let fear keep you from accomplishing what you have prepared to accomplish.  Take everything you have done to prepare over the last several months, let go, have fun and go baby! 

I think that in life we need to pin our ears back and go.  Life is too short to miss out on great experiences and opportunities because of being timid or lazy.  We gotta live while we can.